The Morning After: Three stars, five takeaways from the Avalanche’s victory over Calgary

MacKinnon now has 51 points (21 goals) in 29 home games (1.76 points per game), which leads the NHL in scoring at home and is the most points by an Avalanche player on home ice since Joe Sakic had 52 in 2006-07

Calgary Flames defenseman TJ Brodie, left, uses his stick to slow Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon during the third period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018, in Denver. The Avalanche won 5-2.

Former Avalanche Stanley Cup champion Chris Drury watched the game from the press box. Drury, the assistant GM for the New York Rangers, was in town to scout the University of Denver vs. Miami series this weekend at Magness Arena.

NEXT UP

Minnesota, Friday at the Pepsi Center, 7 p.m.

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

Great Nate. The Avalanche is nothing more than ordinary without MacKinnon, who jumped from third to second in NHL points-per-game (1.29) behind Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (1.30). MacKinnon produced his 21st multi-point game of the season, the most in Colorado since Matt Duchene had 21 in 2013-14. And MacKinnon now has 51 points (21 goals) in 29 home games (1.76 points per game), which leads the NHL in scoring at home and is the most points by an Avalanche player on home ice since Joe Sakic had 52 in 2006-07. If the Avalanche makes the playoffs, MacKinnon likely will be my No. 1 vote for the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP (voted upon by the Professional Hockey Writers Association).

Johnny Hockey. Calgary’s leading scorer Johnny Gaudreau appeared to naturally react to Blake Comeau‘s stick to the upper chest/chin but was called for embellishment, leading to his game-misconduct penalty that eliminated the Flames’ best offensive player 8:05 into the third period. It looked like a bad call. Gaudreau didn’t over-react to Comeau’s high-stick — the Avs forward was whistled for just that — and tossing Gaudreau for throwing a fit seemed unjust. Gaudreau entered the game with just 12 penalty minutes in 64 games and is generally a Lady Byng Trophy type of guy; oh wait, he won that trophy for gentlemanly conduct after last season.

Killing it. The Avs have the NHL’s top-ranked penalty-kill at home and finished 5-for-5 to improve to 91-for-98 (92.9 percent) on the PK at the PC. They have allowed a league-low seven power-play goals on home ice.

All about PC. The Avalanche improved to 22-8-0 at the Pepsi Center and has won 12 of its last 13 contests in Denver, outscoring opponents 48-21 during that stretch. Colorado has 10 more games at home.

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